Effie Loves to go Boating~~Cooper Hates (Floating) Boat Docks...

Yesterday was one of our first gorgeous days here. We hit temps in the 80's hooray!  Art and I wanted to go do something fun and exciting.  We have ordered an inflatable kayak and so we wanted to see what the dogs would think of the water.  We went over to the marina and rented a pontoon boat. The water was so choppy due to the heavy winds, so we rocked and rolled.  At first the dogs were a little freaked out. They hid under my coat and then slowly they decided hey this is fun, well Effie did, Cooper finally just feel asleep. It wasn't long Effie was doing this.....  ( don't worry we have life jackets on order for them the ones with the handle so we can grab them)

The wind was still cool on the water for a while. She just stood up and wanted to see out I guess.  It was just adorable. I must have taken 20 pictures of her doing this. And most of them look the same :))))

                       Then the sun warmed things up alot and off came the sweater.

I couldn't believe she wasn't scared. Effie is the timid one, always unsure of things, scared to get far from your side.  So this really surprised me.  This is one of my favorites.....

Looks like she is watching the water swish out of the motor.  Or Art said she might be praying as there were a few times when the boat really rocked. :)   Here is what Cooper did while Effie was enjoying the scenery......

He was enjoying the sun rays.  It didn't take him long though in that black coat to get warm and move.

We pulled the boat into a cove to get out of the wind and dropped the anchor and ate our lunch I had packed of sandwiches and chips. It was so peaceful and serene.....ahhhh

This particular cove is Allen's Creek.  There were a few boats in there fishing. The water was so calm compared to the middle of the lake and warmer too.  I expected to see a deer come wondering down and take a drink.

We rented the boat for 4 hours and it went so fast. I could have spent 4 more out there. There is just something so relaxing about being on the water. We have been reading and studying up on the inflatable kayaks by Sea Eagle and we finally took the plunge and ordered it yesterday. It would be mainly for places like the above picture. There were people kayaking out in the middle and they were bobbling more that anything. It didn't look all that fun to me.

After we ate lunch we drove over to the boat ramp at Hardin Ridge to dock and go to the restroom.  They have a floating dock and there was no way Cooper was walking on it.  Art had to carry him. Effie jumped off onto it walked up pottied, and then ran back down and jumped on the boat herself.  She was ready for more sailing. I think she could have gone 4 more hours too.

After we turned the boat back in we drove around the campground that is in the State Recreational Area called Paynetown.  We were driving and then came to this road block...

"Cleo, would you hurry and pick out a site before we get run over by a car."

"Now Calvin, stopped that crooked neck posture it will not make me go any faster."

"Oh Cal, I think this is the spot. Close to the lake, no people around, plenty of green grass to eat."

"Cleo!!! Read the sign."  "OH no we have to start all over."  " Don't think I like that fire grate either, gives me the creeps."

Art suggested we take the dogs for a ride in the truck down to the boat ramp and get some sun set pictures. What with the Mini Cooper and the golf cart it doesn't get driven much.
The sun was so pretty and the more it went down the prettier the sky became.

                                        And then my favorite one of all tonight.....

Isn't it amazing how the sky just gets so dramatic as the sun sets. 

We were not the only ones watching the sun go down this family of geese were floating on the water near us and they had 2 little ones... And hopefully there was one sitting somewhere on a nest and that one wasn't a loner.  That is sad.  

 

Boy was she keeping an eye on us.

         Love this one's splash landing.  So graceful I would probably end butt up!

That is all tonight from Hardin Ridge. Hope you enjoyed our little boat adventure and Cooper has asked no one please make fun of him. Effie is doing enough of that!  :)

I Hope This Never Happens to YOU!!!

Hello, we're back! And so happy about that.  The RV is well and was an easy fix...how wonderful.  The problem was the elbow into the grey holding tank was at a bad angle and not glued, so when the tank was full the water ran out, which is what happened to us. That is where all that water came from.  Modern Trailer Sales in Anderson, IN is where we bought the unit. We had heard their service department was very good, and it was! We told them when we arrived this and asked them not to "let us down" and they did not. They did a wonderful job. They pulled our unit into the bay the minute we arrived and worked on it all day until every job and every concern we had was attended to.  We thanked them when we left on doing such a speedy job and they said they knew this was our home now and wanted to get us back in it as soon as possible. The only trying part of the day was killing 4 hours, walking through Walmart. I was looking for a blue vest to put on and see if they would employ me for that time we were there :)  I can tell you where everything is in the Anderson Walmart now!  I am not a shopper but we wanted to stay in the area as we didn't want to use any more diesel fuel than we already had.  I called Keystone while we were there and expressed our concerns about being in the unit only 4 weeks and now this problem. I also said it cost us $100 in diesel to bring it to the dealer to be fixed and that if it happened again in the 'very near' future we would like to be compensated for fuel and she said that would be an option for us. That was nice to know. I told them all the good things we loved about the RV and I could hear her typing the whole time I was talking. :)
I would have blogged sooner but we were having internet issues and now they are resolvd so I'm back!

OK, now on to the title of the blog today. This entry is going to be different than my usual wildlife photos. I thought you might be interested in seeing what happened to a camper here in the park on the Sunday night before we left. We were all gathered at the office having a pitch in dinner. A lady came walking up to the door and was crying and said they needed help as her husband had the camper stuck in the gate house drive. Hmmm.... he was stuck all right.  I wanted to tell you the pictures were all taken by Iphones and not cameras so the quality will not be as good. 

Can you see the problem????

If you said it didn't fit, you were right.

 

See the sign that says Keep Right...he didn't.  We were told he did not want to go to the right (where golf cart is)  because of the speed bumps. They cause the items in the shelves to be jostled.  I think he has more problems than dishes being out of place now. 

This was taken on top of the roof and as you can see he broke the beam that measures 10 x 10 and moved the entire building on its foundation.  He tried to back out before help arrived and that caused more damage to trailer and gate house.

You can see the roof how it buckled, and the steel plate that was holding the big beam in place was bent in the middle.  The speed limit was 25mph.  You can determine yourself if you think the magnitude of the damage was done under that speed limit.  Hmmm????

In the first picture you can see the yellow cone that hangs down to remind people of the height. And you can see the sign in this one also. It was asked why they didn't make this taller when they built it but apparently it was constructed in the 70's when RV's were not this tall.

We talked that the trailer probably suffered major structural damage. Wondering if they will total it?

I guess he was frustrated with the Forest Service for not putting a warning sign on this side of the gate house also.  Again....hmmmm!  He came in the front entrance and had to go to the outside lane of the gate house to keep from having "This" happen. The beams didn't magically raise several inches in the few days he was here.

We all make mistakes and dumb ones at that. At least I know we have. We all started telling stories about the dumb things we have done while waiting on the wrecker to come and pull him out. It turned out to be quite funny. Found out even the "pros" have made some blunders of their own.  I won't mention any names here of course ;)

Here we are parked in the barn lot (which was quiet to sleep in. NOT ). We stayed at the house to spend time with Hannah before we came back. I always thought this place was quiet and peaceful until trying to sleep with the animals. The turkeys and geese partied until wee hours of the morning. :)  In my next blog I'll share the wild life photos I captured in the pond and bushes. 

It looks like a used RV sales lot.  That is Hannah and Dan's trailer they just bought.

I want to wish Kevin a Happy 70th Birthday.  He is the Assistant Manager here at the park.  They surprised him with cake at our safety meeting yesterday.

Happy Birthday Kevin....cute hat!  :))))

See you should never stick your tongue out at the photographer....they can get even.

That's about it from soggy, rainy Hardin Ridge.  Hope everyone has been healthy and happy while we've been away, I hope to catch up on some blogs now. 

     So from Hardin Ridge in Hoosier National Forest best wishes everyone. 

A Little Bandit Stole My Heart......

Well I just couldn't be more excited!  I feel so much better and thank you to all of you for your most kindest of well wishes. The weather is still raining and cold, but we have great big nice windows to look out of and this week the RV goes in to get all well too.  Oh... is this why I am excited? Well partly, I am excited because I got a picture of something. Something I wanted all last year while we were here but the little stinker out foxed me all the time. I guess he heard I had been sick because yesterday I was sitting at the table and whalah there he was pretty as a picture hanging on the tree looking at me. So here is my first picture out the window...Barbara this one is for you. 

Yes, I know, the clarity could be better but...I got a Pileated Woodpecker.  How thrilling for me anyway. Now some of you may be going hooo humm.  What can I say I get excited over little things.  :)

And I am not done. Oh no the creatures are ascending upon us like the animals did to Noah and the Ark. Not really but it sounded good.  Art sees this one for me....

It was right at sundown and there she was. Standing right beside the camper just back in the woods a little. She just mosied around eating new leaves and shoots coming up out of  the ground.

She wasn't very big I'm guessing a year old, maybe.  She is darker here as the sun didn't bleach her out as much.  Isn't she adorable??

 It was just our week I guess for animals.  Art just about gave me a heart attack when this girl appeared out the window.  "Tam, a turkey."  And NO not that softly.  Well all was going well; she was laying down on her side dusting herself in a mole's run when here comes Bill, another host on his golf cart and scared her.  Thanks Bill way to go!!!! He knows I'm just kidding! 

Look at her! Off she goes in a dead heat behind the bathhouse. She looks more like a Roadrunner at this point, but hey I gotta turkey!

Okay I'll give you a break from the animals for a minute.  I shared with you a few blogs back the other camp hosts sights but at that time 2 of them weren't here yet. So now I want to show you where they live....

This is where Harold and Nancy the beach mangers live.  It wasn't very pretty and sunny out when I took these but can you believe the photo on the right is what they see out their back window.  Not too shabby is it? They have a gorgeous view of Lake Monroe from their site.

This is Glen and Casey's site on Bluegill.  He also is employed by the Forest Service. 

Guess what returned to us this week. I guess others have seen them in the park but he was a first for us.  I was so excited I was doing my hummingbird dance....

This picture I had a little fun with can you tell?  He was sitting in the tree and as you can tell he was puffed up some as it was cold out.  Since the photo quality wasn't that good I decided to try this different editing option.

The work here at the park has really slacked off as much of it is done.  So that gives us more time for walks and taking the golf cart out looking for photo opportunities.  While we were riding on the golf cart Friday I told Art that I wished I had discovered this love for photography earlier in my life.  He asked why and I said, "because I look at the world differently now."  I take the time to look at the area I am in and I look at it at different angles. I don't want to rush at what I'm doing for fear I might miss something.  I guess in my older age I appreciate the world that I am living in and enjoying the beauty of it far more than in my younger years.  I know I never knew a flower had so much detail as before, or that a tree looks different when you stand directly under it and look up at the sky, or that you need a vast amount of patience when waiting for a turkey or deer to come walking out of the forest.  And I know from proof in these next few pictures that I 'notice' what is going around in my world from the ground all the way up into the trees.  All the time we were here last year we heard they were here but I never got one picture of them.  I am so glad I did not for I am awarded this year by this amazing set of pictures.  How marvelous to witness this act of nature.....

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this....I have seen it before when I was a little girl growing up in the woods but not with a camera in my hand ready to get a picture.

She definitely saw us watching her but she never hurried, she went slow and steady up the tree with this precious little bundle in her mouth. 

You could just feel her sense of relief when she deposited that little bundle in his new home.  As a mom I could sympathize with how much she wanted her little one safe.  She stole my heart.

We just sat in the cart a ways off and waited and remained very quiet as not to alarm her.  And you know the thing that really puzzles me is Cooper and Effie do not bark at wildlife. They will bark their heads off at a person but a deer or squirrel runs across our path...nothing.  Which is good, for me and I'm glad so it didn't scare the mama raccoon.

It wasn't long before this little bandit of a face appeared in the hole.  "Are you still there?"  You could only imagine that was what she wanted to yell at us. 

Woody said there was no way he was being left out of the blog so he came and lit on the tree right outside our trailer window too.  I tell you with all the rain we have been getting I may have thought the animals knew something we didn't as much as we saw of them.  But wait...I'll bet the bird seed and corn I put out had something to do with it. 

And I hope you are not tired of butterflies because this plant is a magnet.  I told Art you are probably wondering if I am sticking fake ones in the plant to get these pictures ha ha...

There were five on here at one time.  These are Western Tiger Swallowtails, they are so pretty and colorful.

When I was a little girl and grew up where I did it was really much like where were are now. I was surrounded by woods and creeks. And one thing we had many of were these little ground squirrels. My Mom loved them and always nicknamed them Freddy.  Here is our little Freddy at Hardin Ridge.

I guess I will end here tonight.  I am tired and need to turn in as we have to pack up and leave tomorrow morning. We are leaving a day early in order to go by our house and unload the fridge and our clothes and then get up early Tues morning and take it to the dealership. Here is crossing our fingers they have it fixed and ready for us to return in a hurry.  Freddy, Woody and all our animal buddies will miss us, and I expect the hand outs we are giving too. Truth be told I will miss them.

So from Hardin Ridge take care everyone. 

I'm Sick, the RV is Sick, but the Wildlife is Still Beautiful.....

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog...I've been sick.  I have the flu.  Art came down with a sore throat Friday night. It was really red and swollen but he drank some hot tea and that seemed to take care of it.  Then I started to feel bad on Monday. My head was hurting and was feeling congested then...the worst~ I came down with a fever. Now fevers and me just don't get along. I have seen Art have a fever of over a hundred and still work, me, 99.5 and I'm down and out. I hurt so bad I felt like a Mac truck had run over my body.  I am feeling a little better, I spiked a fever again last night and today I am still very weak and congested. When I get something like this it takes me days to get over it.  I am so mad I wasn't sick all winter at the house, not even a tiny little cold and then we get here and I get this flu. Urr.... but I will get better soon from such wonderful and thoughtful care.  Art went to town and got me some good medicine which has helped with the congestion and body aches. And Nancy, another host just brought over some delicious chicken soup, thank you Nancy. See now who wouldn't want a life style like this?  Such wonderful friends and lovely scenery to look at even if you feel terrible. I am just happy I feel up to doing this blog before you all forgot me :)  Just kidding......    Now if only we had some medication for the RV.  Yep, we already have  problems.  Remember when we had to move it last week so they could cut down some trees that were too close to us?  Even though at the time it seemed like a lot of work thank goodness we needed to move because we have a major water leak under the tanks. Water was pouring out from under the trailer as Art was moving it. He took the panel off the bottom and the insulation was dripping wet. So we have to tear down 'again' and take it back to the dealership on the 30th.  Art has been on the phone with a service tech and they are hoping for an easy fix of just a leak in the tank vent.  But they will still have to replace all the insulation under there. Now if the tanks are leaking then we may be gone for a while. Isn't this just ridiculous?? We have only been here a few weeks and already a major problem. I want to call Keystone and tell them they need to at least pay for our diesel to take it back to the dealership.  I don't know what is wrong with these companies but the workmanship is really really crappy. I could understand if this unit was a few years old but a new one you expect a little different experience. Thank goodness it is still under warranty. Will keep you up to date on the findings.    Ok now on to good things.  I have wildlife YA!!!!   The first picture I cannot take credit for though ~~  Kay one of our host was able to snag a picture of this little guy while they were putting up new clips on our posts for reservation slips.  And you all know how I love turtles so I am starting with him. Thank you Kay for sharing this with me so I can share with readers of the blog.

"Hey, what cha doin? I'm just coming out to get some sunshine, so please move a side." 

Isn't he just the cutest thing?  I know I know not furry and cuddly like a bunny but you have to admire these little guys who carry their home on their backs through the rain, the mud, the wet leaves, the branches....hey they could carry mail.  :)

This little guy was sunning himself on one of our logs. I have no idea what this is. I looked up Salamanders of Indiana and couldn't find anything that looked like him. Then I looked up Newts and he looked even less like one of them. Anyone know??

OK speaking of our log pile. We were starting to get a bit concerned that our logs were attracting mice, as Cooper lets us know they are in there. So Art decided to clean up the mess some and Abbie and Bill gave us a tarp to cover up the wood to keep it dry.  Of course with Art moving the wood he stirred up a mouse, and Cooper was on the war path. He was a tad bit angry.  See...

He was barking at Art to get him to move a little faster. I believe what he was trying to say was, "move that log for me he went under there."

"OK, fine I'll move it myself!" 

Poor little guy he wore himself our trying to catch that mouse. The mouse I am sorry to say was a little to quick for him. He would scurry around the other side faster than Cooper could so he escaped many times. As I watched him he seemed to be laughing as he would run by Cooper. :)

Cooper tried another approach, pounce from the top.  It didn't work either.

What was Effie doing while all this commotion was going on. Funny you should ask because I took this picture of her while Cooper was barking....

She wasn't one bit fazed by all the commotion. She was smart and stayed in her chair and the warm sunshine. 

Cooper finally admitted defeat and went after this green bug, that appeared injured, that was crawling on our patio mat.  This was as close as he got to it though, I guess the mouse was safer than he thought.

If you read the blog regularly you remember I said our daughters and their families were coming over this past weekend and to expect granddaughter pictures. Well here they are. Meredith had a blast sliding on the slides. She had the adults right where she wanted them. Aunt Hannah would lift her up to Daddy, Daddy would let go Uncle Dan would catch her, she would run to Aunt Hannah and it would start all over again. What a system, she didn't have to climb anything. And me, you guessed it I was on camera duty......

"Ready, set, go!" 

Right into Uncle Dan's arm. 

See her Elmo doll? She would let him go first and then she would go. So cute!!!

After a while Aunt Hannah's arms hurt so she and Meredith raced. It was so cute.

I'm not sure who was having more fun Meredith or Aunt Hannah!

She is giving kisses now. Meredith that is.... So sweet :)

Wanted to show you my new hanger for the hummingbird feeder. I had one that suctioned on the window last year but it was tiny and had to be refilled everyday. I found this hanger at Walmart and love it.  Effie loves to hang out in her bed by the window so she can look out.

Before I came down with the flu I decided to go on the hunt for wildlife. I found some!

Now if he doesn't make you smile nothing will. Is he cute or what???  Chubby little cheeks, and he just sat there and posed wasn't one bit afraid of me. 

And then look what I saw.......

"I hear you have been looking for me?"

"Well here I am all proud and beautiful. Just like last year."

I was giddy with excitement. My first deer photo of the year. She was so sweet just stood there and let me take pictures of her. And when I drove away she just started eating again, like well my deed is done for the day hoe hum! 

I don't know what was on the ground but these two butterflies were sitting side by side enjoying something.

I am thrilled with my plant I bought. Every day there are butterflies all around it.  Isn't this guy pretty. I am not going to try and identify it, as I have looked and it takes forever to find their picture. I am just enjoying their beauty. I need to find a book on them. 

I did some engagement pictures for our daughter while they were here as they had their first date walking a trail in a state park. I thought I would post 2 of my favorites.

I love the bark on the Pine Tree here in the park so they stood in front of  this large one.

And since they love walking trails we wanted to do one of those too.  So here they are walking the trail here at Hardin Ridge.....

Hope you enjoyed all the nature pictures. Next time I do a post I hope our home and myself are both back to 100%.  So from Hardin Ridge in Hoosier National Forest....
Best Wishes and take care everyone.